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Parallels Server Runs Virtualized Mac OS X

Parallels announced a beta of their new Server application which is the first virtualization solution to run multiple copies of Mac OS X Server v10.5 Leopard on a single Apple computer.

Parallels Server can be installed using the Parallels lightweight hypervisor, in which virtual machines run in tandem with a primary operating system, or "bare metal, in which virtual machines run independently and are not dependent on a host operating system to function properly.


The advantages to administrators is the ability to run a combination of different "guest" operating systems in various virtual machines. These "sandboxed" virtual machines can be used to easily test software and configurations, without affecting a full production server.

We've previously explored this topic, realizing that the ability to run virtualized Mac OS X would make it very easy to run Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware.

When questioned about the possibility of using Parallels Server to run Mac OS X Server on a PC, Parallels' Director of Corporate Communications told us that that they have not enabled this functionality in the Windows and Linux versions of their product. The reason behind this limitation is that such behavior would violate Apple's end user license agreement (EULA) for Mac OS X, and Parallels wished to continue their good relationship with Apple.

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53 months ago
this would be great if it will run tiger....

a little backwards compatibility without a second partition...
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53 months ago
Interesting I was wonder when something like this would come out.
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53 months ago
i saw this one coming.


if they can virtualize windows... whats stopping them?
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53 months ago
I guess if they have the code of running osx in the windows or linux versions and simply keep it disabled, some hacker will find a way to break it and we will see many PCs running virtualized osx...
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53 months ago
Parallels can maintain their good relationship with Apple.

Just as long as somebody who does NOT work for SWSoft "finds" the code to enable this feature. :D

Edit: For the record - I'd be all over that like Dr. Venture on amphetamines if I could run Tiger on my Dell Craptop.
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53 months ago
I suspect that they're probably smarter then that and have not compiled in the support for it in the Windows/linux editions.
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53 months ago
wonder how you switch between the visor and bare metal OSs.
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53 months ago
this sounds very interesting to me. i like the idea though. probably not long until they get this working on non-apple hardware though
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53 months ago
One other nice thing to note is that this supports Intel's 'VT-d' technology, which allows specific bits of hardware to be designated to specific virtual machines, and those virtual machines get full access. So this means you could run Windows in a virtual machine, and it would have full access to a second video card, or second NIC.

That's right, alteredego, this is what you were IMing me about earlier today.

It specifically mentions VT-d in the linked press release.

indiekiduk: There are two ways of running this. One is 'conventionally', where you run the software inside a 'host' OS, and all of your virtual machines run as 'guest' OSes. The second manner is called "bare metal", where there is what I will term a 'picokernel' hypervisor that virtualizes multiple machines before any OS loads, and each virtual machine thinks it is the sole OS. (I don't know what the official term for this is, so I picked 'picokernel', because it sounds appropriate.)
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53 months ago
What they said: When questioned about the possibility of using Parallels Server to run Mac OS X Server on a PC, Parallels' Director of Corporate Communications told us that that they have not enabled this functionality in the Windows and Linux versions of their product. The reason behind this limitation is that such behavior would violate Apple's end user license agreement (EULA) for Mac OS X, and Parallels wished to continue their good relationship with Apple.

What they meant:
When we bought the Director of Corporate communications alcohol hoping to get them him drunk enough to reveal how the hell we can run os x on our dell boxes he quickly quipped back: What the hell are you talking about??, and have jobs walk into our office with his lawyers, cut our balls off and them feed them too us? No way am i that drunk or we that STUPID.

:D
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